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Remy Le Boeuf: Light as a Word
by Jordan Penney
Light as a Word is the debut full-length album from saxophonist and composer Remy Le Boeuf as a leader, and it moves fluidly in liminal spaces. Its format and its performersa sextet that includes piano, guitar, double bass, drums and tenor and alto saxare firmly in a jazz idiom. But the songs themselves are more through-composed ...
Sue Maskaleris: Love is the Key
by Geannine Reid
Jazz composer Sue Maskaleris has quite the arsenal of skills in her toolbox. A pianist, vocalist, and crack lyricist, she bestows wry wit in her approach to writing that harkens to Dave Frishberg. Maskaleris is a product of the rich hummus of New York schools. She studied arranging with Don Sebesky and composition at Manhattan School ...
Max Richter: Voices 2
by Nenad Georgievski
Following up on his deeply resonating album Voices (Decca, 2020) which found its inspiration in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and centred on the messages it sent in these problematic, dark political times, composer Max Richter comes up with a follow-up entitled Voices 2, and the results are mesmerizing. Most of the album was recorded ...
Dan Wilson: Vessels Of Wood And Earth
by Chris May
Dan Wilson's Vessels Of Wood And Earth starts well. Just over a minute into track one, the guitarist launches into a lightning-speed solo which sounds a little like Wes Montgomery channeling Charlie Parker on speed. On track two, Stevie Wonder's well named Bird Of Beauty," he rings the changes, exchanging Montgomery and Parker for Pat Metheny ...
Misc: Partager l'ambulance
by Gareth Thompson
Montreal piano-led trio Misc use their album title and artwork here to reflect on a post-Covid world. The title translates as Sharing The Ambulance" and the cover is like an apocalyptic cartoon, showing a disused hospital truck furnished with hi-fi and easy chair floating in the sky. It could be a still from any Studio Ghibli ...
Roberto Magris: Shuffling Ivories
by Jack Bowers
In 2018, while he was in Chicago to record his ninth album, Suite!, for JMood Records, pianist Roberto Magris was introduced by tenor saxophonist Mark Colby to bassist Eric Hochberg, an artist with whom Magris formed an almost immediate bond. After performing together at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, Magris and Hochberg decided they should record together, and ...
Gunter Gruner: The Invisible Landscape
by Mike Jurkovic
An ardent student of no less a legend than Andrew Cyrille, drummer/composer Gunter Gruner's fondness for jumpy, adroit, noir landscapes comes with a decisively Pink Panther stroll: lanky, animated, wise-ass but humble. His side-street detours to survey The Invisible Landscape involve more than the usual walk down free-form lanes. With downtown, free-jazz giant Daniel ...
John Walsh: Irlandalucía
by Ian Patterson
A blindfold test for this platter might well elicit the names of Vicente Amigo, Niño Josele or Tomatito, as the listener casts around for well-known contemporary flamenco guitarists --so impressive are these seven dashing originals. The composer and guitarist hails not from the south of Spain, however, but from the south of Ireland. John Walsh first ...
Lorne Lofsky: This Song Is New
by Jack Bowers
Over the years the guitar has earned a unique position in the annals of jazz. At times strident, ear-splitting and generally distasteful, at others one of the loveliest, most amiable and pleasing instruments in any circumstance, especially when placed in the capable hands of a master such as Canada's Lorne Lofsky. This is the guitar as ...
Wu Man & Kojiro Umezaki: Flow.
by Hrayr Attarian
The various East Asian musical heritages share some similarities yet are distinct in many important aspects. Japanese-born, USA-based composer & shakuhachi (bamboo flute) player Kojiro Umezaki joins award-winning Chinese pipa (lute) virtuoso Wu Man for a set of enchanting solos and duets on the intimate Flow. Together they highlight those shared elements and beautifully contrast the ...

